Watertown-based Food Truck Festivals of America is bringing the food trucks to diners, including two trucks visiting town this weekend.
On Sunday the Sept. 13, Trolley Dogs and Whoopie Wagon will be on Frank Street from 4 pm-7 pm. Diners must preorder food, which can be done at www.foodtrucktruckfestivalsofamerica.com/streats.
For more information, see the announcement provided by Food Truck Festivals of America, below:
With tourism down, offices closed, college students working remotely and urban foot traffic down to a minimum, the hundreds of food trucks in New England had to do something to stay alive. The days of selling 400 lunches on the Greenway have been gone since March. What to do and where to go? So, now the food trucks are rolling to the suburbs where programs like Neighborhood StrEATs in Watertown have helped keep the trucks alive and brought some welcome culinary diversion to the neighborhoods.
“Our initial goal was first and foremost to keep the food truck industry alive,” says Anne-Marie Aigner, founder of Food Truck Festivals of America and Neighborhood StrEATs. “But, with restaurants closed and folks stuck at home and told not to go out, we saw that folks needed help – and a little something new. Even now, as restaurants start to open again, we don’t go out every night. Some nights we cook at home, once in a while we go out, we do take-out – and why not the fun of a food truck or two on your block every once in a while?”
“It’s been a lifesaver for us,” says Jerry Dente, owner and operator of Trolley Dogs Food Truck. “Without festivals or concerts or city foot traffic, it has been very very challenging these past few months. These neighborhood events have kept us in business.”
“It’s not just fun and different food – but it’s been a chance for neighbors to safely wave to each other at a mini-‘event,’” says Jason Gerdom of Watertown, who served as his neighborhood’s Ambassador to get the word out that the trucks were coming. And, says Shari Malyn, who is her Newton neighborhood’s Ambassador (which has hosted a weekly StrEATs event since April), “I love having the trucks in my driveway because I get to meet the entire neighborhood when they pick up their orders from the trucks. We needed something to bring our neighborhood together – this program is the perfect solution – and it’s easy and free! And, it helps some food trucks in the process.”
Neighborhood StrEATs operates in Watertown, Waltham, Newton, Belmont, Ashland, Canton, Plymouth … all over the region. It is a COVID-friendly program, with the trucks sanitized and certified and the truckers and customers masked and gloved. All ordering is done online … no cash or credit cards at the truck. It is basically takeout/pickup from a food truck.
“It’s a hyper-local program meant to provide residents with some fun and food and brings the food trucks some welcome revenue,” says Aigner. “It’s the definition of win-win.”
www.foodtruckfestivalsofamerica.com/streats
To request a truck for your neighborhood visit www.foodtruckfestivalsofamerica.com/streats and complete the Request a Truck form. Easy – and free.
THIS Frank St?
On Arsenal Street, near the Lexus Dealership/Flaming Pit, take Louise St. or Beechwood Ave to Frank Street?
It seems like a strange location, so I just wanted to double check!
Thanks!
That was what I was told. Frank St.